Since matter can neither be created or destroyed...are Earth's resources really limited?

Question

Man is the great inventor. If we use up all the oil, we will simply invent new technology to thrive and survive. Look at how we've responded with the green movement. I have faith in humankind!

Answer 1

There are a couple of points relevant to your question. First, the atoms that makes up the earth's resources exist in chemical compounds that store energy in a usable form. Think of the chemical bonds as charged batteries. When we use these resources we release the stored energy and basically drain the battery. These resources really are limited in the sense that we are draining these batteries fast than nature is recharging them.

Renewable resources are those that take advantage of loose energy and change the form of that energy. Wind, hydroelectric, and solar energy already exist through natural functions (gravity, energy from the sun, etc.) we use technology (windmills, solar cells, turbines) to harness a percentage of that loose energy and convert it into a form that is usable and easy to store.

Eventually it is possible that we could demand so much energy that there will not be enough loose energy to meet our needs, but it is highly unlikely. At this point we use so little of the loose energy that it might as well be limitless. It offers the best choice for the future.

Answer 2

Try to understand this way:
All matter is finite and cannot be created or destroyed. Matter can be transformed into energy and vice versa as well as one matter can be changed into another.
Renewability of earth's resources is dependent on scale of time period one is considering, on small period of time like life of an individual some resources are non-renewable however the same becomes renewable on geological scales of tens or hundreds of million years. It is relative as such with reference to time, all resources are either formed on the surface of earth or within the crust, for segments of surface and crust which undergoes destruction for what ever reasons, new crust is formed at oceanic depths though it takes million and million of years to complete the process. The new crust then forms new surface and the cycle goes on.
thnks

Answer 3

Hi, yes. Because it takes such a long time form these items. The second we see somthing, we take. Eventually there will be no more to take because, even though matter it not created or destoryed just restored, we will eventually take it all. So much that there is very little resources left.

Answer 4

ENERGY can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. Energy includes matter as a subset (atomic particles). Furthermore, any change in form of energy involves escape of some energy as heat.

So you can't win and you can't break even.

Answer 5

Say that to the guys who are trying to figure out what to do with the tons of nuclear and chemical wast that modern society creates. Just because mater can't be destroyed doesn't mean it can't be made useless.

Answer 6

But you should remember that one form of energy can be converted to another.In that case we have not lost anything in the world

Answer 7

I'm sorry to have to tell you that life, living, and experience tend to make us more realistic. So enjoy your optimism while you have it.

Answer 8

yea. its the "FORM" we really need to conserve not the piece of matter itself